Downers Grove South shuts down Wheaton North
Senior Corey Vondra and his Downers Grove South baseball teammates are experiencing unusually great weather to start this season - a sunny season opener followed by a trip to California.
The Mustangs immediately took advantage Tuesday at Wheaton North by scoring three runs in the top of the first inning en route to an 8-0 victory in Wheaton.
Vondra, the Mustangs' No. 3 hitter, had two singles, including the first run-scoring hit of the season to bring in leadoff hitter Nick Stacey.
"Definitely I relaxed a little bit, got the bugs out of my stomach and just went on from there," Vondra said. "It was good. We expect our team to be good in the batting order."
Five pitchers - senior starter Ty McCulloch, junior Mike Greco, sophomore Cameron Crowley, Vondra and senior Zack Jones - combined on a 1-hit shutout with a combined four strikeouts, one walk and two hit batters.
Wheaton North senior catcher Ryan Kocher greeted Crowley to open the fifth with a clean single to left field.
"I did realize that. I looked up and I was like, 'Hey, is that the first hit we just gave up?'" McCulloch said. "It was our first game so we were all just kind of collaborating. We all threw really well so it was nice to see everybody contributing."
Downers South coach Darren Orel intentionally divided the pitching duties because the Mustangs are leaving Friday morning for their spring trip in Anaheim, California. They are scheduled for five varsity games and a couple junior varsity games.
"I wanted to make sure to have everybody available and everybody at full strength (for California)," Orel said. "It was one of those games where we were fortunate to get a lead because when you mess around with pitching, that can go either way."
Just playing Tuesday's game was a milestone. They have been annual season-opening opponents in recent memory, but their last three openers have been canceled by bad weather. Wheaton North eliminated the Mustangs 12-3 in last summer's state tournament - but that came after their previous two summer meetings were canceled.
"(Wheaton North coach Dan Schoessling) and I had a stretch going where we couldn't get a game in - even in the summer," Orel joked.
"For us I think that was about as good of a first game as we could have in terms of our offensive approach. Because you can get some momentum in the first game, sometimes it's easier to be on the road. You can't screw anything up."
McCulloch faced the minimum six batters. He had a strikeout and no ball in play left the infield.
"I knew we were going to be limited so in my head I knew I was only going to go two innings," McCulloch said.
A 3-run fourth opened a 7-0 lead. The Mustangs' Charlie Walsh had two run-scoring singles, and Frankie Gordey and Brett Riegler doubled. Robert Justus, who also had two singles, Vondra and Jack Villa scored twice.
The Falcons' Pat Leahy walked with two outs in the third and Casey Becker and Ryan Muehlfelt were hit by pitches. Starting pitcher Zach Colangelo followed Muehlfelt with a screaming liner to left field in the sixth but directly at Gordey. Five of the Falcons' last 12 outs were flyouts.
"It's tough when you lose 8-0 to find (highlights), but when we did hit the ball hard we were hitting it right at people. Offensively, we will be better," Schoessling said.
"Downers South is a good team, good lineup 1 through 9. We've got to defensively play almost a perfect game to limit their chances. They did a good job of hitting with runners on."
Last year the Mustangs were 30-6 and regional champions. The 2015 spring trip was to Tennessee.
"It's going to be an exciting, awesome trip (to California)," Vondra said.
"Get to the beach a little bit maybe?" McCulloch added.